Determinants of delay in public sector building construction projects in Kisumu city, Kenya

Abstract

Building construction projects, globally, are planned to be executed at a given cost, to a predetermined standard and within a specified time period. However it is not uncommon to see such projects take longer than was originally envisaged, and, the duration of building construction projects is increasingly becoming an issue of concern among the stakeholders in the construction industry. This is because of the increasing rates of interests, commercial pressure, inflation and the potential of a construction project to result in disputes and claims leading to litigation or arbitration. The purpose of this study was to assess the determinants of delays in public sector building construction projects in Kisumu City, within Kisumu County of the Republic of Kenya. The objective of the study was to assess the extent to which project management teams’, contractors’ capacities’, client related and force majeure factors, influenced delays in public sector building construction projects in Kisumu City. Correlational research design was adopted for the study to enable answering the research questions. The target population for the study was 89 comprising of professional and technical staff of the directorate of Public Works, contractors and public sector clients with building construction projects in Kisumu City. Data was collected through census of the entire target population of 89 respondents and, the study adopted purposive sampling to target specific groups who could provide the desired information concerning delays in public sector building construction projects. The study used self-administered questionnaires as the research instrument for data collection as it was quick and could be easily e-mailed to respondents who were easily reachable. A pilot study was conducted at Kakamega County. Data collection instruments were subjected to peer review, scrutiny by research experts comprising of my supervisors and review of the pilot testing to ascertain its validity. Reliability was tested by split-half method using the r-function of Spearman brown prophecy. Quantitative approaches, using Microsoft Excel as well as Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20 was used to process, analyze and interpret data. On the first objective the study established that the relationship between adequacy of project management team members and project delays was significant (rho = .135, p = .299) and that project teams had adequate number of members and therefore numbers could not have been the reason for delays. On the second objective the study established that the relationship between contractors who had clear organizational structures and delays was unrelated (rho = -.162, p = .209) and that contractors did not have clear organizational structures that could help minimize delays. On the third objective the study established that the relationship between regular payment by clients and project delays was significant (rho = 711**, p =.000) and that clients did not make payments on time, and this contributed to delays on building construction projects. The fourth objective found out that the relationship between occurrence of poor weather conditions affecting projects as a force majeure factor and project delays were un related (rho = -.102, p =.444) and that poor weather conditions affecting projects did not occur frequently, thus not delaying building construction projects. The studies major conclusion was that, there was need to regulate the public sector building projects by registering experienced professionals. The major recommendation was that effective ways must be designed to verify the list of staff produced by contractors in support of their application and to ensure also that these key staff positions are continually filled by technically competent individuals. These study findings may be useful to Contractors, Clients, Project Managers and other building construction industry players in public sector to achieve project objectives on time